A Good Week

Hannah has had a great week! She has felt so much better this week - she has been laughing and playing and happy. We are so excited to have our Hannah back! The doctors have told us that this month should be a break for her and she will have a chance to feel much better for the next few weeks. (After this phase it will be more intense with the worst time being this Fall.) She felt so good this week that we decided to do something fun while we were in Atlanta so that she wouldn't dread the trips so much. We went to the zoo and she loved it! Her favorite animals were the warthogs (who would have guessed?)

She did really well at her appointment yesterday. Until yesterday, she had been getting really upset when it was time to go back for her appointment by crying that she didn't want to go see the doctors, that she didn't want a finger prick, and that she didn't want them to access her port (attach the IV). With her feeling better, we tried to talk to her a lot this past week about being brave for her appointments. For the first time yesterday she didn't even cry when she was called back for the appointment or when they pricked her finger for her blood tests. She was so proud of herself for being able to do it and for being brave!

Her doctor also said that her blood counts are up and pretty good for now, so she was able to go to the golf tournament that was in her honor today. I was amazed at how great she felt and how long she lasted in feeling good! That was definitely the best she has felt in so many weeks!! It has been hard for me to let her out of the house. Before the zoo the other day and the tournament today, she had not been in public since she was diagnosed. I can't help but to worry about her getting sick and something happening. The doctors say that when her blood counts are good we should do what we can to let her have fun and be a normal little girl. I'm trying to remember that and trying to let go of being worried. I'm hoping it will get easier as we get more used to all of this.

It was wonderful to see everyone at the tournament. Eric and I are thankful beyond words for everyone coming out to play golf for her and especially for everyone who worked so hard to get the tournament together (especially in the heat today!) We will never be able to say thank you enough to our wonderful friends and family! It means more to us than we will ever be able to express!

To clarify...

I didn't go into much detail on this blog and there has been some confusion about what the test results meant.I've had several people ask me if Hannah was completely out of the woods because she had good test results. No, that is not true. The bone marrow biopsy showed that there were no immature white bood cells in her bone marrow which would have put her in a high risk category. She will remain at standard risk and continue to have chemotherapy treatments for the next 2 1/2 years. She will continue on the path of treatment that the doctors first prescribed. The doctors fully expected that the test results would come back the way they did. It is very rare that kids have the results come back the other way. Nothing has changed as a result of the good test results, her treatment would have just been much more intense if the test had not come back good.

Good Test Results!

Hannah's bone marrow biopsy test came back good!! We are so relieved and thankful to receive such great news today!

She had a good appointment today. She had to have another lumbar puncture to insert the chemo into her spinal fluid and get chemo through an IV. She can't eat before being sedated. Her appointment was at 11:00, but the clinic was backed up and she ended up having to wait until 2:30 to finally eat. Thankfully she isn't quite as hungry since being off of the steroids, but it still made for a pretty grumpy little girl!

The hospital has so many wonderful people working and volunteering there. Some of Hannah's favorites are the clowns. They stopped by her room and then saw her again when we were waiting in the waiting room for the second time today. They made her laugh like I haven't heard her laugh in over a month! It was wonderful!

No Test Results Back Yet

We still haven't gotten the test results back yet. Hopefully we will hear something tomorrow or at the latest on Friday at her appointment.

Ronald McDonald House

Hannah did great this morning. We are home and so glad today is over! We are officially done with the Induction Therapy phase and Hannah doesn't have to take steroids again for a couple of months. We should get the test results from the bone marrow biopsy back Tuesday or Wednesday.

When we have to spend the night for early morning appointments, we have gotten to stay at the Ronald McDonald House which is very close to the hospital. This picture is only half of the building. It is staffed by almost all volunteers. Different companies, restaurants and groups donate and serve breakfast and dinner almost every day. It is a very special place - especially for families who have to stay there for long periods of time. The atmosphere there is like no other place we've been. All of the families are so friendly and there is an immediately felt common bond. We are thankful to have such a great place to stay!

Beads of Courage Necklace

This necklace is a program through the hospital called Beads of Courage. The children get to make these necklaces to document what they go through. Each colored bead represents a procedure. For example, the white beads are for each I.V. chemotherapy treatment Hannah has had so far, the black are for every time she has been "poked" to draw blood, the blue are for clinic visits, the red are for when she had to receive blood and platelet transfusions, the yellow are for hospital stays, etc. She has filled up this necklace and will start a new one tomorrow. We have seen kids who have filled up many necklaces by the time their treatment is over. It is incredible what these kids with cancer go through and how resilient they are!

Induction Phase

We are currently in the fourth week of Hannah's first month of treatment which the doctors call "induction therapy". During this month, Hannah has had four types of chemotherapy given by I.V. and inserted into her spinal chord fluid. She has tolerated the chemo pretty well besides an upset stomach and being tired. The worst part of this month has been that she has had to take steroids for the entire month. They have caused all kinds of issues including extreme personality changes, weight gain, and hunger among other things. The above picture was taken three weeks ago when Hannah got home from the hospital. The following picture was taken this past Friday at her last appointment.

She barely looks like the same child and definitely doesn't act like the same! We have four more days of the steroids after which the doctors say that she should get back to normal as far as her weight and attitude within a couple of weeks.

We go back on Thursday for an early morning appointment on Friday. During that appointment the doctors will do another lumbar puncture to give chemo in her spinal chord fluid and another bone marrow biopsy to determine what the cancer looks like and what will be the next steps of treatment. PLEASE PRAY that we will get good reports (we should have the test results back early next week). The results from this bone marrow biopsy are crucial and determine whether she will either continue the standard care of treatment or be considered high risk and have to undergo much more intense treatment in the following months.